It is known to use a patient restraining rail system on a bed or stretcher. One type of railing system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,195,955; 2,136,088; and 2,786,214. These patents describe a rail which is pivoted below the mattress of the pad so it can laterally swing out from the bed and be positioned in a downward manner for entrance and exit of the patients from the bed. The pivot axis of such rail had to be very low so as not to interfere with a patient sitting on an edge of the bed, and the rail had to extend upwardly across the mattress thickness and sufficiently higher to form a restraint. These outwardly pivotal rails often more than doubled the bed width when they were swung out from opposite sides. Thus, it was difficult to pivot the rail when the bed was near a wall or adjacent an adjoining bed. If the rail system were on a stretcher, it had to be lowered while the stretcher was several feet from the bed in which a patient was to be transferred. In compact hospital rooms and corridors, the outwardly pivoting side rail required an acceptional amount of space for their swing.
Another type of patient restraining rails are the vertically sliding type, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,179,957; 3,486,176; and 3,221,350. Although these required substantially less space for operation, they were more cumbersome to operate because the entire weight of the side rail must be lifted by the operator. In a pivoting side rail structure described above, half of the rail's weight was borne by the pivot joint. Also, a pivot joint is quicker and more easily moved than a sliding joint which may occasionally bind. This can be appreciated when comparing a sliding door to the ease and quickness of a conventional hinged pivot door.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,083 describes a side rail which pivots in a direction longitudinal to the bed. Such structure has a disadvantage in that any variable height adjustment also changes its longitudinal position on the bed. Sometimes for patient comfort, etc., it is desirable to raise and lower the bed rail without changing its horizontal position. Such might occur when an administration set, urinary drain tube, or other medical equipment is taped to the rail to position it relative to the patient.